Imagine a vaccine without having to endure the dreaded needle. Sounds good, right? This is what immunologist and chief scientific officer at Vaxart, Dr. Sean Tucker is currently working on.
In an exclusive story by Daily Mail, Dr. Tucker hopes that by nearly next year, they would have already obtained large quantities of the material used in their study as well as millions of doses of the vaccine ready for use.
According to him, when COVID-19 first appeared, Chinese scientists shared the virus's sequences as early as they could, so that experts all over the world could start making vaccines for it, anticipating that it was crucial.
He said his team started their trials towards the end of January, and by February, they knew it was getting serious, which was why they started stepping up.
The Race for Coronavirus Vaccine
Dr. Tucker is trialing an array of different coronavirus vaccine candidates at his California lab. His team's vaccines are made from dead adenovirus, which is one of the causes of the common cold. The team also inserted some of the genetic make-up of the coronavirus into it.
The vaccines are being trialed on mice and are tested to be deemed fit for manufacturing. So far, Tucker says the results of the trials have been promising. At the beginning of July, some of the vaccine candidates will start human trials.
Different from the other vaccines, Tucker's vaccines will be in the form of a tablet, which would mean it would be less invasive and potentially cheaper.
The last vaccine Tucker worked on was a tablet-based flu vaccination, which started in 2015 and completed trials in January. The said project was a joint project between Vaxart and Stanford University.
According to Vaxart, the flu tablet will start its production 'very soon' and that doses will be ready in the second half of 2020 if all goes well with its FDA review.
Also Read: More Than a Year to Develop a Coronavirus Vaccine Despite Progress in Medical Research? Why?
How Does a 'Tablet Vaccine' Work?
Tucker's vaccine candidates work by incorporating carefully-chosen Covid-19 genes bound to a dead adenovirus, which will be delivered to the lower intestine.
Their tablet vaccine has been genetically modified to make sure that it survives exposure to stomach acid and doesn't activate until it reaches the small intestine.
Once it reaches the small intestine, it is devised to react with mucosa in the gut and incite an immune response to the COVID-19 genes.
The reaction forms IgM and IgG antibodies that circulate in the blood. These antibodies have been taught to attack anything that resembles COVID-19 by trying to attach itself to a wet surface like the lungs.
According to Tucker, the advantage of a tablet vaccine over the traditional injection-administered vaccine is that the body isn't trained to attack the vector, which is the adenovirus. This is because a tablet doesn't physically damage the body, unlike a needle that leaves a small puncture in the skin and muscles.
Because of the wound, an immune response to the vector is sometimes also constituted, which means that the vaccine can only be used one time. In addition, a tablet can be used as a booster and an initial vaccine.